Popham Megameet 2021

It's been a few years for me since I was last at Popham Megameet but I had good memories of it as a decent sized enthusiast focussed local one day show where a lot of the bikes are ridden in. Come the day rain was forecast and it almost looked like it wasn't worth setting off from home but having been starved of events for the last eighteen months or so off we went. In the end it only rained for the first fifteen minutes or so from the gate opening but sadly for the organisers it was enough to put a lot of folk off and attendance through the gates was low. A shame as the club stands were all there, the autojumble was pretty much there too and only the ride in exhibitors were low in number. So, there you go, a good day out in the open air, some interesting bikes and autojumble bargains to be had. If I can I'll be back next year. Below a few snaps of bikes that caught my eye...

Royal Enfield J2 in good unrestored
condition on the REOC stand.

Seven or eight WW2 Germans combos were gathered
together, both BMWs and Zundapps.

Loved this cheeky retro tax disc humour.

Unusual fairing and front mudguard on
this Beemer airhead caught my eye. On
closer inspection it's a Krauser fairing.

The seat unit on the BMW carried this 'San Jose
BMW Sport Pac' logo.

Beast! Supercharged Kawasaki Z900 powered Rickman.

Nearside view of the Rickman Z900 power
unit. I'm not familiar with Z900s but it
seemed like some serious mods had been
done to the oiling system.

And the offside view, no missing the supercharger.

This Silk was ridden in and sounded great.

I've got a thing for two stroke twins and for me a
Silk is pretty much the ultimate.

Another two stroke twin. Moto Rumi
Bol d'Or scooter. 125cc, twin carbs,
vertical draft, you wouldn't want the rain to
pour down those trumpets!

The Moto Rumi Club were out in force
with both motorcycles and scooters.

Bol d'Or in its distinctive bronze paint and a Tipo
Sport in the background.

Also on the Moto Rumi club stand was this very
wonderous homebuilt four cylinder Rumi creation.

Very nicely and authentically restored
WD16H Norton on the Norton Owners
Club stand.

Also with the NOC crowd this road registered Manx.

Cute Chinese Money Bike based Metisse was on the
Rickman stand.

Replica of a 1962 Bultaco Metisse was also on the
Rickman stand.

Great turn out of on and off roaders
from the Greeves Riders Association.

Also a good turnout of S7 and S8 Sunbeams from
the Sunbeam Owners Fellowship. This S8 fitted
with repro Rodark panniers made by Craven
looked really nice.

The Rodarks suit the lines of the Sunbeam
really well.

Another top unrestored bike was this BSA Golden
Flash on the BSA Owners Club stand.

Finally on the Vintage Japanese Owners
Club stand this Yamaha AG100 caught
my eye and made me feel slightly nostalgic
about my recently sold AG200. Immaculately
restored it was apparently a pre-production
machine and was offered for sale at £3500.

Moto Rumi full range 1958

I'm a fan of Moto Rumi, their machines combine two loves of mine: two stroke twins and quirky engineering.

The Formichino really is a symphony of the unusual. No frame to speak of, a rear casting for the aft of the bike and a vertically split front casting to carry the front end with the engine in the middle holding the two together. The quirkiness even extends to Rumi making their own fasteners with their own pattern of heads for holding the frame members together.

All very unusual but also highly effective. Rumis were a quality product, notably smooth and notably fast. One famous marketing gambit for Rumis in the UK was to balance a 'threepenny bit' (a wide 12 sided coin) on the crankcase and rev the engine, the coin would allegedly stay stock still. The Formichino was even available in production racing trim as the 'Bol d'Or' model commemorating Rumi's victory in that event.

Rumis never sold in great numbers in the UK being very expensive (in part from import tax and in part from just being bloody expensive bikes to make compared to lesser machines) and only available in 125cc size. They were moderately successful however through the rest of Europe and were made under license by Sarolea in Belgium and there was a subsudiary company in Argentina.